


Queer Eye Korea

by maidmarian101



Category: Queer Eye for the Straight Guy RPF, Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Coming Out, Crack, M/M, Pining, Sexuality Crisis, and minho felix hyunjin seungmin changbin are the gays, everyone is gay basically, haven't decided on side ships, it's a big mess, jeongin is a panicked gay, jisung is the straight guy, queer eye AU, woochan and jeongin are jisung's friends
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-22
Updated: 2019-05-26
Packaged: 2020-01-23 16:06:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18553150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maidmarian101/pseuds/maidmarian101
Summary: au where jisung is a mess, and his friends decide to nominate him for queer eye korea to sort his life out.little does he know that when lee minho bursts through the door - fashionable, gay and very flirty - his life (and his sexuality) will never be the same.





	1. I'm Not Gay, Chan!

Jisung does not like being woken up.

He especially does not like to be woken up by the cacophany that is the ringtone he set for Chan, which is one of Woojin’s off-key renditions of Who’s Your Mama. 

None of this is ideal for a Monday morning. Especially considering his bed is made out of old whisks, being able to sleep at all is a miracle, so he treasures the time he spends in the warm arms of unconsciousness. Jisung declines the call.

This particular morning though, Chan is persistent. It takes a total of eight calls for Jisung’s resolve to snap and for him to answer, albeit grumpily. “What the fuck do you want, Christopher?”

“Well good morning to you too,” comes the sarcastic reply from the other side. Jisung rolls his eyes and swings himself upright, yawning slightly.

“This better be good, Monday is my day off so you gotta have a good fucking reason for waking me up early.”

Chan’s response is suspiciously… happy. “Trust me, it’s better than good.” He pauses for dramatic effect, but Jisung has no time for this, because _it’s six o’clock in the damn morning and nothing should be awake right now._

“Are you going to say anything, dickbag?”

“You got accepted for Queer Eye Korea!”

Jisung blinks once. Then twice. “Me?”

“Yes you, moron.”

“Isn’t that the show for gay people? I’m not gay, Chan!”

Chan sighs. “No, it’s a show where five gay men go to straight men’s houses for the week and restyle their whole lives. Frankly, you need it.”

It’s too fucking early for this. His friends can’t DO this to him. “But how come they’re coming to me?” 

“Woojin and I nominated you last month, to be honest we didn’t think they’d accept you but-”

Jisung hangs up.

-

Twenty-six minutes later Woojin is now the one on the phone, and he is just as excited about the idea of this as Chan. “This will be so great! You’ll finally have a proper home, and they’ll teach you so many things. Can’t you see how much this’ll help you?”

Jisung sprinkles his cereal in the George Foreman he keeps instead of an oven, and digs in his kitchen bucket for a fork. “I don’t understand why I need it though,” he whines.

“Jisung, you need this more than anyone they’ve had on Queer Eye before.”

“I can’t even argue with that because I’ve never watched the show, but I think I should be offended. And before you ask,” he flips the cereal, “I’m not watching it. Gay shows might be your guys’ thing, but they’re definitely not mine.”

“People that aren’t LGBT can enjoy shows made for us, yknow. We have to put up with everything else being made for straight people.”

“Fair point, and I take that back.” Jisung sips his coffee. “Why am I best friends with three gays who are annoyingly right a lot?”

“Because you love us, and you should know we’re right about this - it’ll be so good for you, I promise.”

“But Woojin, I don’t have any problems,” Jisung whines. “I like living the way I do!”

“Jisung, what are you drinking out of?”

He looks down at the vase in his hand. “Shut up.”

“Put down your grandmother’s vase. She’s a lovely lady and her property doesn’t need to be damaged with your coffee addiction.”

“I am choosing to not listen to you on account of you being right.” He hangs up again.

 

-

 

When Jeongin, the youngest out of his friends, finally gets him on the phone, he’s a lot blunter.

“Look, bitch.”

“Language,” Jisung chastises. “You’re still a baby.”

“You’re five months older than me, shut your fucking mouth. Now this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to sign one contract and get five experts to buy you all the stuff you need for a comfortable, functional life. If you don’t take it, I’ll skin you alive.”

“You’re not very nice to me,” Jisung complains.

“And I’m not gonna start being nice until you get some common sense. And think of me! Your poor, single, gay best friend who would love to meet five handsome queers who he could potentially get the number of.”

Jisung tuts. “Greasy whore.”

“Well I’m sorry that one of us is trying to get laid!”

Jisung screws his face up in disgust. “Eww, you’re a baby. I don’t even want to think about you getting laid.”

Jeongin sighs. “Please, Jisung. If you won’t do it for the fact that you’re probably eating grilled cereal right now-”

“It’s a family recipe!”

“It is most definitely not - then do it for me. So that at least one of us doesn’t die alone?” He could practically hear Jeongin’s puppy eyes through the phone.

Jisung looks around his apartment - the broken lamps with clothes thrown on them, the hundred-year-old sofa that doubled as a tv stand, the fact his bed frame was made of old whisks he melded together, the pet food bowls used in place of actual china. He huffs. “Fine. You win. But if it goes wrong and I never get a girlfriend ever again, it’s on you.”

-

To be fair, Jisung did mean to do his research. 

And he tried. After signing all the contracts, and getting permission from work, he and Jeongin sat down and tried to marathon Queer Eye, starting with the American version. And he _tried_ to pay attention. But the whole thing was just so dull for him he couldn’t pay attention for more than a few minutes before bombarding Jeongin with questions. All this ended with him getting a vague idea, but still basically no specific details on what was going to happen to him. He couldn’t even tell the American ones apart (what even is a Karamo?) and by the time they moved on to the Korean version, he fell asleep pretty much immediately, while Jeongin ogled the guys on screen. _(“Hyung, wake up, Seungmin-oppa is so pretty.” “Please don’t tell me you just called one of them oppa.”)_

He lost track of time, lost himself in work, and all of a sudden they were coming tomorrow and he hadn’t even showered. To say the least, Chan was not going to be impressed.

“Actually, I think it’s kinda cool you’re going in blind.”

Jisung emerged from the kitchen. Well. ‘Kitchen’.

“You do? Jeongin is very annoyed that I don’t know everything about them.” He was incredulous at the lack on general disappointment in Chan’s tone.

Chan chuckled. “That’s because of his massive crush on Felix. But back in the first season, before everyone they were making over could do their research on the members, it was way more natural. I like that you’re gonna meet them and think of them as just guys, not as celebrities.”

“Thanks, man.” Jisung sat down next to Chan in the only chair he owned - a loveseat he stole from a garbage dump. Chan pulled him close, and Jisung happily hugged him back. “Watch out, you’ve got a boyfriend.” he mumbled. He felt Chan smile against his head.

“Don’t think Woojin’ll mind.” They stayed like that for a few more minutes, Chan rubbing circles into Jisung’s back. Eventually Chan spoke. “You seem kinda nervous.”

Jisung scoffed. “It’s more like I’m gonna miss how messed up this place is. Yeah it’s a mess, but it’s my mess, yknow? I’m gonna have to say goodbye to the whisk bed, and the weird sofa, and the George Foreman.”

It was silent again, before Chan asked, “Are you really gonna miss the whisk bed?”

Jisung sighed. “Not really. You’re right, I need this.”

-

“Holy shit they’re almost here oh fuck what am I gonna do what if they’re really judgy about my home what if I fuck up and accidentally say something homophobic oh fuck what if I say something homophobic?” Jisung was jumping up and down from the seat, panicking out loud. The camera crew already in his apartment ignored him.

Jeongin looked up from his phone. “First off, if you said something homophobic, I would be the first one to smack the shit out of you, not them. And they won’t judge you, they’re really cool. Especially Changbin, his whole thing is being the non judgemental one. God, he’s dreamy.” 

Jisung rolled his eyes at the wistful look on Jeongin's face. “Stop being a useless gay and help me out!” He pointed to Woojin and Chan, who were cuddling on the loveseat. “And you two! I am having a crisis, what can I do to make them not hate me?”

Woojin looked up from the embrace. “Just be yourself, Sungie. You’re adorable the way you are already, they’ll love you.”

Jisung continued to pace up and down. “Being myself is not good advice to get somebody to like me, if that was true I wouldn’t be single right now.”

“There are lots of reasons you’re single,” Chan piped up, nestling himself further into the crook of Woojin’s neck.

“Not helpful!” Jisung yelled back, eventually choosing to sit on the bin to worry by himself.

It was then that the doorbell rang, and Jisung sprang up, but was pushed gently out of the way by Woojin. Jeongin leapt forward to open the door, and five men followed by another camera crew walked through. The first one, his hair a light ginger, stepped forward to shake Jeongin’s hand, and Jeongin looked starstruck. Jisung watched, mostly in terror, as they filed through and one by one were pointed over to him.

The first guy came up to him, and Jisung was surprised when he heard a deep voice come from such a baby face. “Hey, are you Jisung?”

Unsure as to what else to say, Jisung nodded. The guy’s face broke out into a smile. “I’m Felix, I’m in charge of home decor and by the looks of things…” he momentarily scanned the apartment, “good god I have my work cut out for me.”

Jisung tried to laugh. “Sorry?”

“It’s no problem, I’m getting paid to do it. Changbin, come look at this… I don’t think I can call this a kitchen, literally or morally.”

Felix walked away, and the second and third members approached Jisung. The taller of the two bowed. “I’m Hyunjin,” he said. “I’m in charge of grooming.”

Jisung’s face furrowed in confusion. “What’s grooming?”

The one next to Hyunjin laughed. “You really haven’t watched any? Jeongin did say you didn’t know us.”

Hyunjin smiled, and damn he was pretty for a guy. “Grooming is like hair, makeup, facial hair, hygiene, skincare. I know all there is to know about that stuff.”

Okay, _now_ Jisung was officially scared. “I don’t think I need any of that…” He touched his cheek, suddenly feeling insecure.

Hyunjin looked him up and down. “Your shaving is good, but a bit of concealer won’t hurt and when was the last time you got a haircut? And you need a new lipbalm.”

Jisung pouted. “I don’t use lipbalm at all.” _Should I start using lipbalm?_

Hyunjin cooed. “He’s so cute, I like him.”

The one next to Hyunjin offered his hand, and Jisung shook it nervously. “I’m Seungmin. I get the honour of teaching you how to cook and oh god _please tell me you actually have an oven and not just that mini grill_.”

Felix shouted back, his arm around a shorter boy. “It’s just the grill! Seungmin-ah, I’m sorry!”

Seungmin looked like he was on the verge of tears, and dragged Hyunjin over to inspect the kitchen. The shorter boy unhooked himself from Felix, and walked to Jisung.

“I’m Changbin,” he smiled, and Jisung felt his nerves subside. “I’m in charge of culture.”

Jisung looked at him blankly.

“I help you figure out what you’re doing, where you’re going and how you can improve your life,” he explained. Jisung let out a short laugh.

“Could do with some of that. I’m hopelessly single.”

Changbin smiled. “There you go, I can help you talk to girls.”

“You?” Jisung looked at him in disbelief. “What would you know about girls?”

Raising an eyebrow, Changbin stared him down. “I may be gay, but that doesn’t mean I don’t talk to women, Jisung.”

And now he felt guilty. “You make an excellent point, I don’t really talk to girls much.” Jisung looked at his feet. “Or at all.”

“We can work on that together. Now if you’ll excuse me, I think Felix is crying over your sofa.” Changbin shot him another smile before going to join his friends.

“Don’t let him see the bedframe!” Jisung yelled after him. 

_So there’s Seungmin, Felix, Hyunjin and Changbin… wasn’t there five?_

He turned his head towards the doorway, and that’s when he saw him.

This fifth boy was definitely not a member of the camera crew, the clothes he was wearing were too tightly fitted and brightly coloured. He didn’t look young like Felix and Seungmin, but he wasn’t towering over the others like Hyunjin either. If Hyunjin was pretty, then this guy was handsome - but handsome in a pretty way, with delicate features and soft eyes. And his legs looked really good… but not in a gay way or anything. Jisung was just sitting, admiring how handsome this man looked and how nice his legs were and it wasn’t gay because that would be gay and Jisung is straight - wait why is he coming over here? Why is he-

“Hey, I’m Minho,” the handsome man said, extending a hand to Jisung, who stood there open mouthed. “I’m gonna be getting you a new wardrobe tomorrow, so look forward to that.” He winked at Jisung, somehow leaving him more speechless than before, and wandered over to join his friends yelling about the state of Jisung’s living conditions.

Jisung watched him walk off. _I am fucked._


	2. I'm (Probably) Not Gay, Woojin!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Poll to vote on side ships](https://linkto.run/p/II1OQ8DD)  
> PLEASE DO IT FRIENDS IM AN INDECISIVE MULTISHIPPER WHO LOVES EVERYTHING

"Hyunggg," Jeongin whined, grabbing Jisung's arm. Still starstruck, the elder let himself be pulled into a corner by his friend. 

"They're so cute in real life I think I might die!" Jeongin dramatically hit his head into Jisung's shoulder. 

"Mm-hm," Jisung hummed, not really concentrating on the other's gay meltdown. Instead, his eyes flicked to Minho, the walking god that had just introduced himself to him. How could a dude be that pretty? Jisung was straight, he liked girls, but he hadn't found a girl this level of pretty before. The god in question was currently wrinkling his nose at the state of Jisung's cushions, and honestly, he couldn't blame him. Although, now he did feel bad. He didn't want this newfound Adonis to think he lived in squalor, for crying out loud. He hurriedly detached himself from his friend, and rushed over to the area which he supposed was the living room. 

Felix was already, somehow, on the ceiling. 

"Dude, you have monkey bars on your wall? That's so fucking cool!" He yelled, dangling from the ceiling light. Changbin was unsuccessfully trying to pull him down.

Panic blared through Jisung's mind. "Get down, get down, that light is so unsafe!" After a few confused looks, he elaborated. "It's so faulty it's given me electric shocks from the other side of the house, you shouldn't even touch it! Plus my roof isn't that strong-"

Right on cue the light fell, and Felix was only just caught by Changbin. Seungmin and Minho laughed uncontrollably, and Minho rested an elbow on Jisung's shoulder to steady himself from the laughter. Jisung felt a surge of butterflies in his stomach at that gesture, and didn't know what to do except stand open mouthed. His eye caught the camera man training in on their short interaction, and he instantly jumped apart from Minho, who looked a little surprised, but was soon distracted by Hyunjin entering from the bathroom, tears in his eyes.

"Guys," Hyunjin wailed. "This is the worst one we've ever done, and I seriously mean it this time."

Felix cooed. "Poor baby, what's this house done to you?"

"He doesn't have a shower! Or anything other than a sink and a toilet!" Hyunjin was getting emotional. "And the only product he has aside from a razor is Lynx Africa." 

The others all looked suitably horrified. Seungmin's nose wrinkled. "I knew I smelt something off."

"Wait wait wait," Minho said. "If there's only a sink and a toilet, where do you shower?" He paused. "Please tell me you shower." 

"Wouldn't be surprised if the answer was no," Seungmin mumbled. 

"I shower!" Jisung protested. "At the gym. And I keep my soap and shampoo in the kitchen bucket," he pouted.

Hyunjin was now actually crying.

Chan stepped forward. "He's lived like this for two years now, we've been begging him to move."

"Two years?" Changbin was agog. "This... two years? I need to lie down."

"Not on the bed!" Jisung warned. "Or the sofa - or anywhere actually. The floor is unstable, you're literally in a death trap right now."

Seungmin shot him a withering look. "I don't think I want to know what's wrong with the bed."

"He made the frame himself, actually," Woojin piped up, and for the first time that day the Fab 5 looked at him with some awe. Jisung liked the feeling very much.

"You did? That's so cool!" Felix gasped, unhooking his arm from the stuffed tortoise. 

"It was really impressive at the time," Chan added, draping an arm around his boyfriend. "He found a bunch of old whisks that were going to be thrown away and he melded them together in his DT class. It was really cool, but it's just not meant for long term."

Despite Jisung's warning, Minho flopped down on the bed, and cried out in pain instantly. "Fuck!" he yelled, nursing his arm. "How do you sleep on that?"

"Lord knows," Jisung mumbled under his breath.

"Okay, if I'm suffering, he is too." Minho grabbed Hyunjin's arm, and despite his protests, pulled him down onto the bed. Hyunjin let out a similar yelp of pain, before immediately being attacked by Minho tickling him. Jisung knew the friends were messing around, but for some reason he felt sick, and turned away. He tried to ignore the overly fake sexual noises the two were making for some kind of bed gag, and pushed down the uneasy feeling. 

Thankfully at that moment Seungmin appeared and dragged him into the bathroom. "I hate you," he proclaimed, gesturing around. "Do you clean? Ever?"

Jisung scratched his head. "No?" 

Seungmin looked like he was considering jumping out the tiny window. "Changbin really has his work cut out for him, hasn't he? This place is so dirty, and I'm pretty sure those stains didn't come from anything human."

"Oh, they didn't," Jisung replied cheerfully. "Vacuuming accident."

"I-I don't think I want that explained. At all. Does your-" he shuddered, "kitchen bucket... have any cleaning materials? Hell, even shampoo?"

Jisung thought hard. "I keep a bar of soap in there for when I shower at the gym. Sometimes Chan buys me shampoo but I always lose it."

Before Seungmin could snap his neck, they were called back out, where Felix was rooting through the aforementioned bucket. "Dude. You keep plates in here? And - is this a whole asparagus?"

"At least he's eating healthily?" Hyunjin suggested, detaching himself from his hold on Minho's arm. The two had moved off the bed, and Minho was leaning against the wall, absentmindedly biting his lip.

"I bought that for him seven months ago," Woojin supplied helpfully. Felix dropped it in disgust.

Jisung tuned out the general madness entailing in his house and focused in on Minho, whose face was drawn into a smile at Felix's antics. It was such a pretty smile - the way his eyes crinkled and his act for the cameras melted away. Jisung wanted to see him smile more, hear his laugh again, not to mention how pretty his lips were - but this wasn't romantic right? He didn't think this way about boys. Nope. Not at all. He didn't think about how pretty a boy looked and how much he wanted to hear his laugh, that wouldn't be right. Jisung liked girls. He went to prom with Gahyeon four years ago, and the night may have ended with her making out with Woojin's at the time 'girlfriend' (beard) Minji but _we don't dwell on that._ Point is, he went out with a girl once! And he must have had crushes on girls, at some point.

He must have, right?

Wait. _Had he?_

Because in his brain trying to rationalise his straightness to himself, Jisung realised he had never liked a girl.

It was then his fucking stupid brain with its 4 braincells decided to float back to reality and see that Minho had noticed him staring, and was looking into his eyes with an unreadable expression. Jisung's knee-jerk reaction was to turn away, shrivel back, but one of the braincells flickered back to life like an old CD player and forced him to keep the eye contact. Minho raised an eyebrow, and stared at him intensely. Everybody else, the cameras, all became background noise, as Jisung finally learnt the meaning of the expression 'legs turned to jelly'. Minho took a step towards him, and Jisung near fainted at just that. The braincell flickered and died, and he turned back to the rest of the Fab 5 as fast as humanly possible.

-

The rest of that day majorly consisted of the Fab 5 discovering everything else weird about his apartment _("Why do you have so many lampshades?" "Hey look Seungmin, I found a toaster_ inside _the sofa!")_ and him slowly getting to know more about them. He learned Felix was a visionary designer and architect with a kind heart, Changbin was really funny and a great listener, Hyunjin was like a little puppy but also knew more about shampoo brands than anybody he'd ever met, and Seungmin seemed mean but was in fact just as much of a softie as the others. Lee Minho. He was funny, he was just as mean as Seungmin but with no real bite behind it, he was really cute when he laughed, when he spoke about something he was passionate about this dreamy expression drifted across his face and Jisung wanted to see more of it. He'd never wanted to know more about somebody this badly. With every new bit of information he gleaned about this angel-like boy, he longed for more.

This was not the crisis he expected today. A small mental breakdown? Sure. A panic attack? Possible. But a sexuality crisis? This was new. And much scarier. 

The more Jisung thought about the possibility of him not being straight, the less ridiculous it seemed. All of his close friends in school had been girls (with the exception of Woojin), yet he'd never even thought about dating one of them, which he had assumed prior to be his strong respect for women. But the more he thought about it, getting a girlfriend seemed more of something he wanted to achieve, rather than something he actually wanted for love, or sex. To back that up more, after leaving school and entering college, the three closest friends he made were all queer - Woojin being pansexual, Chan being bisexual, and Jeongin being the most hopeless baby gay he'd ever encountered. The first job he'd ever gotten was bartending at a gay bar two blocks away from his house, and while there were a lot of creeps there, he always remembered how he used to blush when a cute one would flirt with him over the drinks, or send him a wink. At the time, he thought it was because he liked the attention, but now it made more sense...

And when he thought way, way back, he remembered when he was fourteen, in drama club, being pulled backstage by the loud, artsy kid Donghyuck, who stood on a box to equal their heights and kissed him. And, even though it ended with Donghyuck being a blushing, apologising mess, he didn't hate it. He didn't mind that being his first kiss.

_Wait._

_Holy shit._

_I like boys._

-

Eventually it came time for the Fab 5 to leave for the night. Jisung was directed by the camera crew to stand by his sofa so the Fab 5 could talk to him about their plans for his house, and him. They huddled together, Hyunjin clinging onto Changbin. Felix nodded to the crew, and started speaking. 

"Okay. so what we discovered is you live in a literal death hole." This got a chorus of laughs, and 'yeah'. "But it's fun!" Felix continued. "The stuff in here is weird, but its unique to you, and I want to embody that when I re-design it. I want this to be a safe, normal environment, but keep the 'you' in it, you know?" 

Jisung nodded in affirmation. _They're so much nicer than I thought they would be..._

Changbin spoke next. "It really seems like you can work hard, and for it to pay off, I mean you made your own bedframe! But we need you to be able to be proud of where you live, and to be able to make time to clean it, and look after it. We think, at the end of the week, you should hold a dinner party to welcome your friends and family to your new home. Would you want that?"

Jisung's face broke out in a smile. "Yeah, yeah I'd love that. Thank you guys, so much."

"It also seems to be tough for you to get a girlfriend," Changbin mused, and the words Jisung himself had spoken earlier were like a punch in the gut now. "I can also help you learn how to impress a certain someone, if you have anyone in mind?"

The first person Jisung thought of was Gahyeon, but the last he'd heard of her she moved into a nice little apartment with Minji and an impressive selection of cats. He shook his head.

The camera crew director sighed. "Come on, there must be someone! We need a storyline, for Pete's sake." 

Subconsciously, Jisung's gaze flicked to Minho, whose eyes flicked back to him. He looked away quickly, red colouring his cheeks, but the camera hadn't missed the brief moment.

The director raised an eyebrow at Jisung, who blushed even harder. In that moment, he wanted nothing more than death.

-

The Fab 5 left after a footage review, and that was when Jisung discovered exactly how touchy Hyunjin and Felix had become in such a short amount of time by the lingering hugs they gave him. Minho's goodbye consisted of a small smile and a light touch on the arm, which made Jisung even more mortified than he was before.

After the goodbyes, his three friends were buzzing with excitement, but Jisung pulled Woojin aside, a desperate look in his eyes. Recognising the fear that hid behind them, Woojin encouraged their other two friends to leave, assuring them he would catch up. 

"So, what do you want to talk about?" Woojin asked, as soon as the door was shut. Jisung sat down on his bed, wincing slightly, and tried to look up at Woojin. "I-I think-" _Why can't I make the words come out?_

Suddenly tears were building up fast, and Jisung started sobbing uncontrollably. Woojin immediately gathered the younger into a hug, letting him cry into his shoulder. "What's wrong?" he asked softly. "You can tell me, I promise."

"I- I want to tell you," Jisung gasped out between sobs, holding his friend like he was an anchor. "It's that I, I-"

"Shh, it's okay," Woojin murmured, and let Jisung cry into his shirt. As his crying gradually lessened, Jisung forced himself to say it. 

"I think I might like boys and I'm terrified," he gabbled, barely making a sound louder than a whisper.

Woojin nodded slightly, and said, "Okay."

This took Jisung by complete surprise. "What, are you saying you knew?"

Woojin shook his head. "Not for certain, but I had suspicions. When did you figure this out?"

Jisung gulped. "Today?"

The elder nodded again. "Okay. It's very brave of you to tell somebody already, this is something very personal." Woojin rubbed circles into Jisung's back, and he felt himself tearing up again.

"What do I do?" Jisung whispered, grasping Woojin's shirt.

Woojin was silent for a while, before speaking with a tone that oozed of experience and memories. "You have to take your own time to figure it out. It took me three whole years for me to come to terms with it. You've had a few hours."

"Actually," Jisung gulped again. "I think I've had nine years, and I didn't realise." At the look of confusion, he clarified. "My first kiss was a boy."

"Wait, wait, wait." Woojin pulled away, confused. "I thought you hadn't had your first kiss?"

Jisung shook his head. "Remember Lee Donghyuck from drama club?"

"Oh my god." Woojin's eyes looked like they were gonna pop out. "You're joking, right?"

"Nope," Jisung sighed. "God, it took me so long to realise I liked boys. I should've said yes to Hyuck when he asked me out."

Woojin looked like he might faint. "Today is certainly a day of surprises," he mumbled.

"You're telling me!" Jisung sniffled, wiping away the last of his tears. He took a second to look around his home. "I think, in my own way - I'm gonna miss the oddness. The weird quirks, the Foreman, the uncertainty whether something will short-circuit and kill me at any moment..."

The wistful expression on his face made Woojin somehow even more concerned. "We should've nominated you two years ago. When you still had hope."

Jisung nodded dreamily.

-

When he slept that night, for the last time in his whisk bed, the aches and pains no longer bothered him, and instead he dreamt of a boy with twinkling eyes and an infectious laugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm VERY SORRY for the delay in this chapter and for the probable delay in the next one :( exams are kicking my ass rn even though i love to write on this, so here's a few thousand words in apology.


	3. I'm (Probably) Gay, Jeongin!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> some more gay panic, you know me :)  
> disclaimer: this is written by a gay person so all and any gay jokes are just jokes not genuine ideas :)

Jisung woke up with a crick in his back and his best friend shining his phone torch into his eyes.

Make that *former best friend. "Fuck you, Jeongin." 

The younger shook him until he was conscious enough to form a relatively coherent sentence (or at least, coherent by Jisung's standards) and dragged him up, tutting loudly. "You better be grateful I'm here, otherwise it would be the directors kicking you out. I am a great friend!"

Jisung glared at him. "You want to be there with me for the filming, you snake."

Jeongin huffed. "Okay, maybe, but at least I'm being nice!"

Jisung glared back. "True, I can name many occasions where you've stabbed me in the back for the sake of dick." That earned him a slap on the arm. "Ow! You bitchass-"

Jeongin tutted loudly, cutting him off. "That's not a very nice thing to say about someone. Now come on, get dressed. I got your bag already, let's get your stuff to the hotel. And quickly! I am not dragging your ass."

-

Somehow, by some mysterious motivation, or just the power of the gay agenda, Jeongin managed to get Jisung and his belongings to the hotel in one piece. (Of course, not without severe complaining from the other party about how it was _four in the fucking morning._ ) He then left a grumpy Jisung to get dressed, who threw on one of the only outfits he'd packed - a decent pair of jeans and a plaid shirt he'd ironed specially. Damn, he was owning this gay thing already.

Right on schedule, the show's limo came to pick him up soon after that. Dazed, he stumbled into the car, followed quickly by Jeongin, and they set off for the destined filming location - the city park, a beautiful maze of flowery gardens and icy rivers that snaked through pathways of willow trees. When they arrived, the sun was just rising and the pink and orange hues filled the sky like a painting. He barely registered the camera crew setting up around him, and for once it wasn't due to his general lack of observance. Across the filming set he spotted Felix, Changbin and Minho, conversing in a corner, by a miniature rock garden. Felix spotted him first and waved, which Jisung absentmindedly returned. He noticed the tight hold Changbin had around the blonde's waist, and the arm Felix had wrapped around his shoulders, and Jisung smiled to himself, knowing.

When Minho turned around and saw him, Jisung was pretty sure his jaw dropped. The colours and lights of the sunrise bathed his bare face in an ethereal light. He smiled softly at Jisung, causing his heart to do several flips and officially register as an Olympic gymnast. Regular Minho, with all his makeup and tight clothes had already proved too much for Jisung's weak heart to handle, but this? The brain wasn't making the thoughts anymore, and he was okay with that. Very, very okay. Had Minho been this pretty yesterday? Oh how Jisung had been missing out on men this whole time-

"So, guys." The crew director, a woman with short hair, talking directly to them brought him back to reality. "While the crew sets up, you guys can take a seat over there." She gestured vaguely towards a park bench. "Have you planned your culture storyline?"

Jisung blinked. "My what?"

The crew director facepalmed. "Jesus, you really are hopeless. You," she gestured to Jeongin, "get him updated on what this show actually fucking is and make sure he has a set storyline to tell Changbin. The stuff about girls we got yesterday was okay, but we need to be more specific so we can make sure this episode has a happy ending. Come on lads, let's move it!"

Jisung vaguely registered Jeongin's arm around his, as he felt himself dragged towards the bench. His eyes darted back for another glance at Minho, but the boy had looked away and now seemed to be comparing hand sizes with Felix and a pretty lighting director.

Jeongin had begun raving about the show, and Jisung's sleep-addled brain did what it did best: ignore him. A light-haired woman with a clipboard and a name tag saying _Handong_ interrupted Jeongin's chattering momentarily to poke Jisung lightly. "Hey," she whispered, voice stilted by a Chinese accent, "ignore Yoobin." She pointed towards the crew director. "She seems mean, but she's really just a useless lesbian who really wants this show to go well." 

"Oh." Jisung didn't know what to say. "I hoped she wasn't that mean really," he tried to joke, but the fear behind his words rang through.

Handong smiled. "Yeah, the show really means a lot to her." The gaze changed to one of fondness. "What this is - it's a way for LGBT people to represent themselves positively, to show the world that we're not overly sexual, or flamboyant or whatever. My girlfriend and I," she pointed towards the girl measuring hand sizes with Minho, whose name tag read _Elkie_ , "we work here because we love what it does for people like us everywhere." 

Jeongin nodded enthusiastically. "Right? Even just as a casual watcher," Jisung raised his eyebrow at the word 'casual', "it's so important to me that I get to see myself represented not as the butt of a gay joke or as a white lady's sassy best friend."

Handong looked close to tears. "Thank you, it honestly means so much when people say that. All the hard work we put in really does pay off! No offence," and she looked at Jisung, "but I don't think the straight guys that come on here really understand the importance of it-"

Jisung interrupted her. "I think I understand better than you think." And he did. He understood now why Jeongin loved this show so much, why he would talk about it for hours. He understood the fondness in Chan and Woojin's eyes whenever it was mentioned. He understood why Hyunjin and Elkie and everybody else here got up at the asscrack of dawn to make the show perfect, because it mattered. Not just on a personal scale, but worldwide. To every Jisung and Jeongin and Handong and Yoobin who needed someone to tell them they weren't freaks, or promiscuous, or unnatural, or weird - they were just... them. And them was okay.

Jeongin's eyes flicked to Handong, and Handong to Jeongin, and they seemed to share a knowing look. Maybe it was the wonder in Jisung's eyes as he came to his realisation, but Handong nodded slightly and turned away, murmuring something about a camera she needed to fix, leaving Jeongin to immediately pounce on him (like the fox he really is). "So, when did you know you weren't straight?"

Jisung stared at Jeongin in horror. _How does he know? Did Woojin tell him? Or did I give it away with my emotional reaction? Did I get drunk and tell him about Donghyuck? Or is it all the loving staring at Minho? Actually..._ Jisung gaped at him, stuttering over words he wasn't even trying to form. Jeongin seemed to sense his discomfort, and put a hand over his knee, trying to show he meant no harm. "You don't have to say... but I'm glad you finally realised, I've been waiting for forever." 

He received a glare. "How come everyone knew I liked guys before me?" Jisung whined.

"Seriously?" Jeongin raised an eyebrow. "No straight guy has three queer guys as his only friends. Only gay guys in denial. So, how'd you find out?"

"That sounds like stereotyping, but okay." 

Jeongin rolled his eyes. "Well, there were other signs too, like your general fear of women. Come on, when did you know?"

Jisung pouted. Though now he had an idea. Woojin could support him about his initial coming out, but if there was one person who knew about having a crisis over dick more than anyone, it was Yang Jeongin. This was someone he could tell about his crush. _Oh, so we're calling it a crush now???_ Shut up, Jisung's Brain.

"Well," Jisung said tentatively, checking nobody was listening first, "I met a guy, and all I kept thinking about was his face and his legs and his lips and his voice and i kinda realised I was a little gay? But there were signs, this was just my Big Gay Realisation. Which is a thing that actually happens, now."

Jeongin squealed slightly, attracting the attention of a few crew members who thought he was dying. "Oh my god, who was it? Was it Woojin? I wouldn't blame you. Or was it Lee Jongsuk, honestly I would tap that-"

"Stop guessing!" Jisung's face heated up, and his traitorous gaze darted back to Minho. The bastard had the audacity to laugh, and look all beautiful while doing it. Making Jisung's heart go all funny again. Stupid prick. "It's not any of them. And I'm offended that your first guess was _Woojin._ " 

"Tell me hyung, tell me please?" Jeongin resorted to his lowest tactic, the puppy eyes, and Jisung hated him. Oh, he hated this little bitch. Those eyes were impossible to resist, it almost made him believe this living incarnate of Satan had feelings. 

It took a total of ten seconds for him to give in. "Fine! He's here. Tall, dark, handsome. Impossible to miss."

Jeongin looked around. "Please tell me it isn't Mike the cameraman." 

"You know the cameraman's name?"

"Well duh, I'm not a fake fan!"

Jisung huffed. "He's standing in front of the sunrise." He waited for Jeongin's eyes to scan the set until the penny dropped

His (*former) best friend's mouth fell open. "No. No way did you have a gay crisis over Lee Minho."

Jisung clapped a hand over Jeongin's mouth. "Be quiet, someone'll hear!"

Jeongin pried his fingers off. "No they won't! Oh my god, yes, he'd be so good for you! How did I not realise this before now?"

"Don't get ideas," Jisung warned. "We've had like, half a conversation. We barely know each other."

"But you want to get to know him better, right?" Jeongin teased. When Jisung just blushed, he took it as a big yes. "I'm already writing the wedding vows in my head."

"Did I ever mention I hate you?"

"Frequently enough for me to no longer care."

They were interrupted by the stylist team coming over to do their makeup, and Jeongin squeezed his friend's hand in a promise of silence. Jisung mouthed 'thank you' in return, before being dragged off.

-

It felt like ten minutes had passed since he'd woken up, but suddenly it was 7am and the cameras were about to roll. The park filled with sounds of nature, and Jisung met Minho's eyes. He received another smile, which he returned. Noticing Jisung's general nervousness, Felix leaned over, saying quickly, "It's okay! Be yourself!"

"3, 2, 1, action!"

"So," Changbin started. The confidence in his tone put Jisung at ease. "We're here at the city park. Would you say this park is significant to you?"

Jisung nodded, trying to project Changbin's confidence in his own voice. "Yes, it's where I used to come when things at uni got too hard. It's a great place for me to just connect with and take a breather." Fuck, that just sounded timid instead. Minho's look of encouragement challenged him to keep going.

"Why do you feel like you can't have that in your home?" Changbin began to walk, letting the others trail behind him and the camera follow. 

"Um," Jisung stuttered, "Maybe because... I don't spend enough time looking after it?" 

Felix nodded. "Definitely, it's by far the worst house we've seen. But at the same time, it's so cool! I wanna keep the crazy, but make it maintainable." 

"And," Changbin added, "when your house has been sprinkled with the Queer Eye magic, you need to work on making sure it stays that way! We can't help you unless you're willing to change."

"I am," Jisung said adamantly. "I am."

-

Filming went smoothly from then on. The guys joked around, made fun of him a little, even brought Jeongin on to roast him. The little shit. Eventually he was sent to the side, with the promise of more filming later that day. While everyone was packing up, Jeongin clung to his arm and raised his eyebrows, gaze flitting between him and Minho. Jisung punched him in the arm.

-

Then came the second filming of the day.

Wardrobe.

And Lee Minho, Lee _motherfucking_ Minho was wearing shorts.

Jisung's brain was going into overdrive. This wasn't okay, the Gay Crisis wasn't supposed to hit _this_ hard! Minho wasn't allowed to be cute and hot at the same time, for the sake of Jisung's tiny heart. To cope, while the cameramen were still setting up in this clothes shop, he decided to bang his head against the wall.

It was going well! He could feel the braincells dying. This is what gay people spend most of their time doing, right? If Jeongin is to be believed. Then a hand, soft and warm, slipped into his and gave it a squeeze, and any remaining thoughts slipped out of his head when he turned to see who it belonged to and saw Lee Minho's face only about six inches from his. "Don't be nervous," Minho whispered, and squeezed his hand again, before winking at him and slipping away to browse through the jeans.

While Jisung was still trying to remember how to breathe, he saw Handong from earlier, this time behind a camera. A camera pointing where he and Minho had just been.

Handong shot him a smile.

-

The cameras were ready. The shop was closed down just for them, the lighting was set and Minho and Jisung were next to the wall, ready to start. Yoobin looked between the two of them. "Huh," she mused. "These two look good together, can we move them closer?" 

Jisung shuffled towards the other, avoiding eye contact. He felt a tap on the wrist, and startled, looked up at Minho. "Look into the camera," he whispered. "Show them how pretty you are." Jisung could feel the blush spreading across his whole face and saw Handong stifle a giggle at Minho's smirk.

Yoobin seemed satisfied. "3, 2, 1, action!"

Acting like he hadn't just shamelessly flirted, Minho started the speech he'd clearly had planned. "So, Jisung, when I was going through your clothes pile, I didn't notice much. Is it true, you only wear the same few outfits over and over?"

 _Coming for me like this already._ Jisung looked away, ashamed. "Yeah, I only have like 3 shirts."

Minho studied his face. "But you want to be able to dress up nice? When you see your family?"

Jisung nodded, gulping slightly.

Minho smirked. "Then we're in just the right place. We can get you a range of clothes for when you want to look smart, and maybe some others for when you just want to be able to look in the mirror and feel good." He gestured to the right, where a crew assistant wheeled in a rack of clothes. "I picked out these four outfits for you, and if you like them we can find some more like them, yeah?" 

Jisung gaped at the clothes, going over to look through them. He'd never really shown interest in his wardrobe before, but these looked _nice_. His eyes were drawn to the crisp white shirt with black cotton trousers, and a smart pair of brown shoes. He looked wide eyed at Minho, who pulled them off the rack.

"I was hoping this would be your smart outfit, for the housewarming party on Sunday," he said, holding it up against Jisung's small frame. "Do you wanna try it on?"

"Yes. Yes, oh my god this must've been so expensive," Jisung gabbled, cradling the clothes with a look of adoration. Minho smiled at him, then pointed to the dressing rooms. 

Quickly, Jisung got changed, (struggling a bit with the buttons) and as soon as he saw himself in the mirror, immediately felt like a different person. Minho was not in charge of wardrobe for nothing. The shape of the clothes framed him well, and the shoes raised his height by about an inch. For a Jisung who had been living in and out of three stained t-shirts and other questionable fashion choices for years, seeing himself dressed up was mind blowing. He imagined his mother's reaction, and his chest swelled with happiness. Slowly, he pulled back the curtain, and was met with Minho waiting. He watched as Minho's eyes trailed him up and down, and suddenly got a warm feeling as he realised something. _Minho was checking him out._

When the older had finished, he met Jisung's eyes. "So, how are we feeling?"

Jisung couldn't contain his smile. "Great! So great, oh my god. You have no idea how different this is for me."

Minho's face broke out into a smile that matched Jisung's. "That's amazing. So for our second outfit, how are we feeling about fishnets?"

-

Filming ended at 5, so Jisung went back to his hotel. Chan and Woojin were working night shifts today, so he didn't have anywhere to go except there. He flopped down onto the hotel bed, exhausted, and after getting his breath back, texted Jeongin.

5:23PM  
Jisungie: i hate u for getting me into this  
Jisungie: HES SO FLIRTY THIS ISNT OKAY  
Jisungie: you know what he told me huh  
Jisungie: HE TOLD ME I L=OOKEJD HOT HOW THE HELL IS MY LITTLE GAY BRAIN SUPPSOED TO RRACT TO THAT

the dark lord of hell: okay first off wig  
the dark lord of hell: but hyung im not gonna deal with your gay problems  
the dark lord of hell: bc guess who i've been hanging out with this afternoon!

Jisungie: rot and die

the dark lord of hell: rude  
the dark lord of hell: anyway it's  
the dark lord of hell: :) hwang :) hyunjin :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHOOPS didn't post for like 3 months sorry


End file.
